Theater Owners Enthusiastically Name The Passion of the Christ as “Movie of the Year”

Aimee Herd, Davin Dahlgren reporting : Mar 18, 2005
USA TODAY

In an awards ceremony at ShoWest, a convention of theater-owners, Mel Gibson was presented with the “Favorite Film of the Year” award for The Passion of the Christ, which grossed 370 million dollars as one of 2004’s biggest hits. USA TODAY readers voted in the contest which was co-sponsored by the Coca-Cola company.

Gibson thanked theater-owners saying, “It was such a phenomenal success, and in no small part because of you…You felt the pulse of the public, and you were able to just grit your teeth and go through it.”